Star Wars: ‘Big’ 40th Anniversary Announcement Coming Tomorrow

Star Wars fans will want to tune into Good Morning America on ABC tomorrow, as the program will feature a major announcement in honor of the franchise’s 40th anniversary. Many moviegoers are looking ahead to this week’s Star Wars Celebration, which includes the first trailer for The Last Jedi. The convention kicks off on Thursday, April 13 with the Star Wars 40th Anniversary panel that sees a variety of faces (including maligned prequel star Hayden Christensen) from the different eras come together on stage and reflect on what has helped the galaxy far, far away endure for four decades. It’s the perfect lead-in for what should be a memorable weekend.

But apparently, the festivities are going to get started a little earlier than originally expected. Ever since Disney acquired Lucasfilm, the studio has taken advantage of that partnership to promote their upcoming Star Wars films. Viewers may recall that ESPN’s Monday Night Football was the site of the final trailer unveiling for The Force Awakens, and last year, Good Morning America debuted a preview for Rogue One. Now, with Star Wars‘s big 4-0 fast approaching, there’s something new in store.

Good Morning America took to Twitter to tease a “big announcement” that’s “40 years in the making.” Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley will be together on the show to share it with the world, only adding to the hype and anticipation:

Of course, the key question is what exactly this reveal will be. It seems specifically tailored for the 40th anniversary and not Episode VIII, so fans shouldn’t go in hoping for a tease of some Last Jedi footage. One distinct possibility is an update on the currently in-construction Star Wars Land at Disney World, which is poised to open in 2019. Some might remember a while back there were rumors Lucasfilm was going to officially re-release the unaltered versions of the original trilogy on a new Blu-ray release, so this announcement could be connected to that. Even if the theatrical cuts aren’t coming back, having Hamill unveil a special Star Wars 40th Anniversary boxed set would make for great television. Regardless, ABC seems confident they have something huge in store – though they obviously want to advertise GMA to score high ratings.

Hopefully viewers will not be disappointed by whatever the announcement is, as it will serve as a precursor to Celebration. If it’s considerable enough to have Hamill and Ridley there, then odds are it will be something worthwhile, but with information hard to come by, it’s difficult to say for sure. As is the case with any bit of Star Wars speculation, there is no shortage of possibilities for the surprise GMA has, so it literally could be anything. Thankfully, moviegoers don’t have to wait too long for this one, which certainly makes things a bit easier.